An Amazing Science Story | Academic Listening Practice
Today you'll listen to an academic lecture about the world's longest-running scientific experiment. This fascinating story demonstrates how science requires patience and dedication.
Discuss with your teacher:
Definition: A black, sticky substance derived from petroleum, coal tar, or plants
Example: "Pitch was originally used in road construction and waterproofing roofs."
Collocations: coal tar pitch, pitch drop, pitch properties
Definition: Having a thick, sticky consistency between solid and liquid; slow-flowing
Example: "Honey is more viscous than water."
Related words: viscosity (noun), viscousness (noun)
Definition: A cone-shaped tool with a tube at the narrow end, used for pouring liquids or substances into containers
Example: "The scientist poured the pitch into a glass funnel."
Verb form: to funnel (something into/through)
Definition: Without stopping; happening all the time without interruption
Example: "The experiment has been running continuously since 1927."
Related: continuous (adj), continuity (noun)
Definition: A characteristic or quality belonging to something
Example: "Scientists study the properties of different materials."
Common collocations: physical properties, chemical properties, material properties
Definition: To become calm, still, or stable after movement or disturbance
Example: "He allowed the pitch to cool and settle for three years."
Other meanings: settle down (phrasal verb), settlement (noun)
Definition: Very sad, unfortunate, or causing great sadness
Example: "The experiment has a tragic story associated with it."
Related: tragedy (noun), tragically (adverb)
Definition: A period when electrical power is not available
Example: "The webcam suffered a power outage for 20 minutes."
Synonyms: blackout, power cut, power failure
Definition: Spread very quickly across the internet, becoming very popular
Example: "The video went viral on the internet."
Usage: Usually refers to videos, images, or news that become extremely popular online
Pitch is the name to a black substance that can be manufactured from petroleum, coal tar or plants.
It was used in road , boat- and waterproofing roofs.
It is known for its viscosity (being semi-fluid), its and its .
In fact, pitch is the world's known fluid.
An experiment to let drops of pitch form and then fall has been going for 92 years without .
Take notes about:
1. When pitch is at room temperature, you can break it .
2. Professor Parnell put pitch into a glass funnel, let it cool, then turned it and cut off the top.
3. In total, only have fallen from the funnel.
4. The next pitch drop is expected to fall in .
5. In 1988, the scientist responsible for the experiment missed seeing the pitch drop by .
6. The speaker notes it's interesting how news about a slow experiment can spread .
Professor Thomas Parnell begins the pitch drop experiment at the University of Queensland, Australia
After 3 years of settling, the funnel is turned upside down
First drop falls (8 years after funnel was inverted)
Professor John Mainstone takes over the experiment
Professor Mainstone misses seeing drops fall three times
Ninth drop falls
Tenth drop expected (the wait continues...)
Neither Professor Parnell nor Professor Mainstone ever saw a pitch drop fall, despite decades of dedication to the experiment. Professor Mainstone missed seeing it by just 5 minutes in 1988!
Do you know of any other famous experiments? Research and discuss:
Words to use: viscous, continuously, property, settle, tragic, went viral
Want to see the pitch drop experiment yourself?
The University of Queensland has a live webcam where you can watch the experiment in real-time! Search for "University of Queensland pitch drop experiment live" to find it.
Another pitch drop experiment at Trinity College Dublin successfully filmed a drop falling. The video went viral on YouTube!
Today you practiced:
Read the full transcript of the lecture. Click on sentences to highlight important information.
In today's lecture we're going to be talking about experiments, and I thought it might be interesting for you all to learn about the world's oldest continuously running laboratory experiment that is still going today.
In fact, it holds the Guinness World Record for being the longest-running experiment.
This experiment began in 1927 and has been going ever since.
It's called the 'pitch drop' experiment and it was created by Professor Thomas Parnell at the University of Queensland, Australia.
Parnell was the university's first physics professor, and he wanted to show in this experiment that everyday materials, such as pitch, can have quite surprising properties.
You see, when pitch is at room temperature, it feels solid. You can easily break it with a hammer.
However, it isn't in fact solid. At room temperature, pitch is many billions of times more viscous than water, but it's actually fluid.
In 1927, Professor Parnell took a sample of pitch. He heated it and poured it into a glass funnel.
He allowed the pitch to cool and settle β for three years. He then turned the funnel upside down and cut the top off it.
Since then, the pitch has slowly dropped out of the funnel. How slowly? Well, the first drop took eight years to fall.
It took another forty years for another five drops to fall. Today it's been almost 90 years since the experiment started.
Only nine drops have fallen from the funnel. The last drop fell in April 2014 and the next one is expected to fall in the 2020s.
The experiment has a tragic story associated with it. Professor Parnell died without seeing a pitch drop.
His replacement, Professor John Mainstone, became responsible for the pitch drop experiment from 1961. He held the job for 52 years, and missed seeing the drop fall three times β by a day in 1977, by just five minutes in 1988 and finally in 2000, when the webcam that was recording the experiment suffered a power outage for 20 minutes, during which time the pitch dropped.
The pitch drop experiment is something we can all participate in now. There's a live web stream that allows anyone to watch the glass funnel and wait for the fateful moment.
A similar experiment to the Queensland pitch drop was set up in Dublin, and the video of the moment the pitch actually dropped went viral on the internet.
It's interesting to see how a very slow event can spread news so quickly.